Cultural Profile of the Kurichiyan
The Kurichiyan is one of the Scheduled Tribes distributed in the Wayanad and Kannur districts of Kerala. They are well known for their joint family system and matrilineal pattern of inheritance with the karanavan (maternal uncle) as the supreme authority.
This combination of matriliny and joint family are academically interesting from the perspective of ecology, economy, and society. Suma reported that in Wayanad district there are as many as 286 joint families, each consisting of about 35 single family units on an average (Suma 2014). The Kurichiyan claim that they are ‘hill Brahmins’ and practice ‘untouchability’ with other castes and communities in and around their geographical location. Regarding their practice of untouchability, Aiyappan (1990) stated that the Kurichiyan claim themselves as Nayars3 of Wayanad. But the Nayars (also spelt as Nairs) from the plains who have settled in Wayanad are not ready to accept this claim. However, Nayars treat the Kurichiyan as inferiors but not untouchables. Like the Nayars, the Kurichiyas regard the Thiyyars4, another predominant caste in Kerala as untouchables though not as low and unapproachable, as do the Nayars from the plains. The Kurichiyan treat the Paniyan5 as untouchables and they believed that the Paniyan would pollute them from a distance of thirty feet. Mathur (1977) added that Kurichiyan considers themselves superior to other communities and follows a set of practices that could be called untouchability with other tribal communities. The practice of untouchability was institutionalised as a cultural symbol and in the course of time it was subjected to transformations due to internal and external changes in the society. It is understood that the new generation of the Kurichiyan are less bothered about this system due to their exposure to mainstream societies and social interactions. Even today some of the elders in the community try to maintain this practice.The Kurichiyan are highly religious and follow an animistic form of religion. They practice ancestral worship and offerings were given to please the spirits of ancestors. These practices are still prevalent in some of the families. According to local knowledge, the Kurichiyan is divided into four groups such as Jaathi Kurichiyan (located in Wayanad), Anchilla Kurichiyan (families excommunicated for various reasons and located in Thirunelli panchayath), Kunnam Kurichiyan (families located on hillocks of Kannur district) and Pathiri Kurichiyan (families accepted Christianity). The Kurichiyan have a distinctive system of social organisation with matrilineally based joint families, kin-based system of land governance, and cooperative farming. The collective land holding prevents land alienation and fragmentation of the tarawad6 property. The unique social organisation based on matrilineal succession and subsistence-based agriculture has survived as a sustainable model of natural resource management.
A joint family of Kurichiyan consisted of 25-75 or more members. Both men and women irrespective of their age engage in almost all agricultural operations. However, men are engaged in ploughing, digging, and tilling whereas women do all other agricultural activities. It is significant to note that the joint ownership of property and labour coordination is institutionalised among the Kurichiyan and there was no hierarchical order among them for doing agricultural operations. But now the situation has changed and the joint property system started to dissolve with the introduction of land reforms, new property laws, and ownership rights. Even though leadership in traditional7 economic pursuits often rest with the most skilled and knowledgeable persons, it is seen that this ability is not sufficient to determine an institutionalised position in the social system.
It is significant to note that individuals or members of the group express themselves as social actors in the system and social institutions as a condition for the manifestation and reconstruction of social structures.The Kurichiyan are economically categorised as an agricultural community. Their traditional settlements are found close to the agricultural fields for the convenience of doing agricultural operations. They have been engaged in agriculture for a long time and the entire social structure is designed to meet the requirements of a large joint family with acres of land. The social institutions are also functionally linked to take forward a system focusse on joint families with collective farming. This tribal community is highly significant in anthropological literature because of their involvement in collective food production, distribution, and management of agro-biodiversity. They were considered the first agricultural settlers of Wayanad with deep knowledge in traditional paddy cultivation. The unique land management system and agricultural practices gave them a special status among other agricultural tribes in Kerala. They practised ceremonial hunting as part of religious celebrations and were experts in archery. Their traditional hunting practice shows the intimate relationship they maintained with nature especially the fauna. God Malakkari8 was propitiated before they starts hunting and there existed procedures for distribution of the hunt. Hunting was an institutionalised activity attached to religious practices. Now hunting is almost vanished from their society due to the enactment of new forest laws, a ban on hunting, and changes in customary practices with the disintegration of joint family and joint ownership of property.
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